{"id":571856,"date":"2023-10-30T06:30:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T13:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=571856"},"modified":"2023-10-30T17:51:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T00:51:57","slug":"intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Intertwined History: U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Intertwined History: U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition<\/strong><\/p>\n

The colors of their flags are the same, one of many overlaps between the United States and Puerto Rican water polo programs. With the opening this week of polo competition at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, the American men\u2019s and women\u2019s sides will face both Puerto Rican sides on Tuesday in a doubleheader.<\/p>\n

Opening Day Action<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a rich history between two nations separated by 1,000 miles of ocean but tethered by a contentious political tie. For more than a century, Puerto Rico has been an unincorporated territory of the US. Puerto Ricans are American citizens but have zero representation in the U.S. Congress.<\/p>\n

\"Puerto

Courtesy: Total Water Polo<\/p><\/div>\n

When it comes to water polo, the two nations share a connection through the island\u2019s leading polo families. The Mujicas of San Juan have been involved with Puerto Rican polo for half a century; three generations have either supported or represented their nation in international play. Currently, Jean Pierre \u201cJP\u201d Mujica<\/strong><\/a> is the head of the island\u2019s national team program; his son Fabio is on the Puerto Rican men\u2019s roster for these games. JP and his four brothers went to the U.S. for an education\u2014and collegiate polo competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always a thrill to play with the US, there are friends that we play [against] and also on the coaching staff,\u201d Mujica said in response to the challenge of facing the Americans. \u201cThe US is a favorite not just to win our game, they are favorites for gold, so we are playing the best team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maggie Steffens<\/strong>, the face of American women\u2019s polo, has strong ties to the island through her father<\/a>, Carlos, who represented Puerto Rico in three Pan American games (1979, 1983, 1987).<\/p>\n

“My dad represented Puerto Rico at the Pan American games, and now I get the chance to represent Puerto Rico in my own way, on Team USA.\u201d she said in an email. \u201cBeing Puerto Rican and representing my family<\/a> is something I\u2019m very proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

As goes the relationship between the U.S., a country of 330 million people, and the island of Puerto Rico, with a population 1\/100 of its northern neighbor, so goes these matches between unequal rivals. In 25 years of women\u2019s play at the Games, America has never lost to Puerto Rico. On the men\u2019s side, it\u2019s been more than three decades (1991) since the USA lost in international competition to their island opponent\u2014and never in Pan Am play.<\/p>\n

\"\"Alan Bayo, <\/strong>Puerto Rico\u2019s top scorer, is a 14-year national team veteran. Milena Guzman<\/strong> is a star for the Puerto Rican women; she recently signed with Club Nataci\u00f3 Cataluyna to play in the Spanish professional league.<\/p>\n

The American men feature Ben Hallock<\/strong>, considered one of the world\u2019s best young players. An NCAA champion for Stanford in 2019, he\u2019s also an integral part of Europe\u2019s top pro team. His Pro Recco squad has won back-to-back-to-back LEN championships from 2021-23.<\/p>\n

Steffens sets the pace\u2014an historic one\u2014for the American women. A two-time NCAA champion at Stanford (2014, 2017) and three-time Olympic champ (2012, 2016, 2020), Steffens seeks an unprecedented fourth-straight gold medal next year in Paris.<\/p>\n

Hopes are relatively high for a strong Puerto Rican showing in Santiago. Their men’s side is coming off a best-ever showing last summer at the Central American and Caribbean Games, beating Cuba for gold. Puerto Rico\u2019s previous highest CAC finish was second place (1998, 2002).<\/p>\n

There was no women\u2019s competition in San Salvador, but after finishing fifth at the 2019 Pan Ams the PR women look to finish in the upper half of the eight teams in Santiago.<\/p>\n

Success won\u2019t come against America; the US men have won the past seven Pan Am titles and 12 of the last 14. The U.S. women have swept the last five golds. Both are prohibitive favorites in Santiago to again advance to the Olympics, the prize for any team champions in Chile.<\/p>\n

Even though she wears the red, white and blue of the USA, Steffens feels the pull of her father\u2019s homeland whenever the two countries face off.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an energy I fully embrace, especially while here en los juegos pan americanos,\u201d the American captain said. \u201cGetting the chance to play Puerto Rico is always a fun opportunity, especially now that I\u2019m getting married in San Juan in two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho knows\u2026 maybe I\u2019ll wear the PUR cap one day!\u201d Steffens added.<\/p>\n

When done with Pan Am play and her honeymoon, perhaps one of the first calls Steffens fields is from Mujica. He and many others, including Puerto Rican Swimming Federation President Fernando Delgado<\/strong>\u00a0have been rebuilding the island\u2019s aquatic programs since Hurricane Maria devastated the their country six years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Maggie] has been helping us with promotions and clinics on the island.\u2019 Mujica said. \u201cI cannot say what she would do, but I think she will love to play in Puerto Rico and help develop our program after she retires from the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

No matter Tuesday’s scores\u2014and it\u2019s certain to be in favor of the Americans\u2014the bonds of kinship that exist between polo on the island and the mainland are sure to be strengthened, a welcome development for the sport in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Intertwined History: U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition The colors of their flags are the same, one of many overlaps between the United States<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4875,"featured_media":533069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122077,12],"tags":[520,54416],"class_list":["post-571856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-americas","category-water-polo","tag-puerto-rico","tag-water-polo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nU.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As the United States and Puerto Rico prepare to meet in water polo action at the Pan American Games, there are ties between the squads.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Intertwined History: U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the United States and Puerto Rico prepare to meet in water polo action at the Pan American Games, there are ties between the squads.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-30T13:30:38+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-31T00:51:57+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230724_ASta_ASZ3844-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Randazzo\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Randazzo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Randazzo\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fb1d58ba008040c3ad837f46defed7bb\"},\"headline\":\"Intertwined History: U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-30T13:30:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-31T00:51:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/\"},\"wordCount\":915,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230724_ASta_ASZ3844.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Puerto Rico\",\"Water Polo\"],\"articleSection\":[\"-Home Slider\",\"Americas\",\"Water Polo\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/\",\"name\":\"U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230724_ASta_ASZ3844.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-30T13:30:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-31T00:51:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"As the United States and Puerto Rico prepare to meet in water polo action at the Pan American Games, there are ties between the squads.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230724_ASta_ASZ3844.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230724_ASta_ASZ3844.jpg\",\"width\":2400,\"height\":1600,\"caption\":\"Italian goalie Caterina Banchelli denies a shot from Maggie Steffens during the World Championships quarterfinals on Monday; Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Intertwined History: U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"description\":\"The Global Leader in Aquatic News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"width\":1799,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Swimming World\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fb1d58ba008040c3ad837f46defed7bb\",\"name\":\"Michael Randazzo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34baabfc0ac0cea197ffefec898a876?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34baabfc0ac0cea197ffefec898a876?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Michael Randazzo\"},\"description\":\"Michael Randazzo is a freelance contributor at Swimming World focusing on water polo. He covers polo all over the United States for SW and other publications, including the Collegiate Water Polo Association, Skip Shot, The New York Times, Total Water Polo, Water Polo Planet and others. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children and roots for St. Francis Brooklyn polo.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/michael-randazzo\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition","description":"As the United States and Puerto Rico prepare to meet in water polo action at the Pan American Games, there are ties between the squads.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Intertwined History: U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition","og_description":"As the United States and Puerto Rico prepare to meet in water polo action at the Pan American Games, there are ties between the squads.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/","og_site_name":"Swimming World","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","article_published_time":"2023-10-30T13:30:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-31T00:51:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230724_ASta_ASZ3844-1024x683.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Randazzo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@swimmingworld","twitter_site":"@swimmingworld","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Randazzo","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael Randazzo","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fb1d58ba008040c3ad837f46defed7bb"},"headline":"Intertwined History: U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition","datePublished":"2023-10-30T13:30:38+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-31T00:51:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/"},"wordCount":915,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230724_ASta_ASZ3844.jpg","keywords":["Puerto Rico","Water Polo"],"articleSection":["-Home Slider","Americas","Water Polo"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/","name":"U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230724_ASta_ASZ3844.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-30T13:30:38+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-31T00:51:57+00:00","description":"As the United States and Puerto Rico prepare to meet in water polo action at the Pan American Games, there are ties between the squads.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230724_ASta_ASZ3844.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230724_ASta_ASZ3844.jpg","width":2400,"height":1600,"caption":"Italian goalie Caterina Banchelli denies a shot from Maggie Steffens during the World Championships quarterfinals on Monday; Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/intertwined-history-u-s-and-puerto-rico-face-off-in-pan-am-water-polo-competition\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Intertwined History: U.S. and Puerto Rico Face Off in Pan Am Water Polo Competition"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","name":"Swimming World","description":"The Global Leader in Aquatic News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Swimming World","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","width":1799,"height":900,"caption":"Swimming World"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld","https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/fb1d58ba008040c3ad837f46defed7bb","name":"Michael Randazzo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34baabfc0ac0cea197ffefec898a876?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34baabfc0ac0cea197ffefec898a876?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","caption":"Michael Randazzo"},"description":"Michael Randazzo is a freelance contributor at Swimming World focusing on water polo. He covers polo all over the United States for SW and other publications, including the Collegiate Water Polo Association, Skip Shot, The New York Times, Total Water Polo, Water Polo Planet and others. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children and roots for St. Francis Brooklyn polo.","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/michael-randazzo\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"","source_text":"","source_url":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230724_ASta_ASZ3844.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p56Jja-2oLu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4875"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}